i'll taste the sky and feel alive again
by eclipsed flower
Summary: Yuni would hold him as he sat, hollow and vacant, tear ducts dry and Byakuran would remain a constant presence, making inopportune offers of marshmallows. Tsuna had found a strange comfort in it, and the pair had become a trio (as it should be, the tri-ni-sette united). [2013 secret santa fic for ForeverBlackSun]


**Disclaimer: **I own Katekyo Hitma- Sorry to break it to myself, but no, no I don't.

**A/N:** This is a secret santa fic written for **ForeverBlackSun**, and I really hope that you like it. I tried my best to satisfy the criteria, but that doesn't mean good writing DX There may be some confusion between tenses as I wrote half of it in present tense before switching to past tense, and I probably missed a lot of corrections.

This is set sometime past tyl, filled with random scenes that are set in no particular time, just a few years down the line.

Anyway, Merry Christmas and please do enjoy the fic! :3

_i'll taste the sky and feel alive again_

Tsuna had his head buried in Yuni's lap and was mumbling incoherently, "Whyyyy, whyyy, Yuni-chan? Stupid Byakuran, why'd you have to saaaave him?"

Yuni patted his bird's nest of hair and made sympathetic noises, as if it wasn't all her fault that she had brought Byakuran back and now everyone had to deal with him.

Tsuna reached for his glass, his hand flopping around on the bench above him, almost knocking over a row of empty ones in his search. Yuni grabbed his hand before it could cause any damage and carefully let it swing back and drop to the floor.

"I think that's enough, Tsuna," Yuni said, carefully pushing any alcohol nearby away from the inebriated brunet.

Tsuna tried to turn his head to look mournfully up at Yuni but found that it required too much effort and slumped back into Yuni's lap.

The sound of a door clicking open made Yuni turn around to greet its source. "You're late, Byakuran," Yuni sighed. "Tsuna's very drunk."

Byakuran's eyes curved into half crescents as he slipped through the empty bar, the dim light casting shadows on his face as he smirked. "Isn't he always? He's such a bad influence. He shouldn't be let near Yuni-chan."

Tsuna lifted his head blearily, struggling to right himself onto his barstool to glare at Byakuran.

"Like you're one…one to talk," Tsuna swung his finger in Byakuran's direction accusingly before letting his head drop down to the bench heavily.

Yuni winced.

"Stop corrupting Yuni-chan by being an irresponsible adult, Tsunayoshi-kun," Byakuran chided.

Tsuna grumbled angrily but made no other action to retaliate.

"What kept you?" Yuni asked Byakuran, hoping to diffuse any potential dangerous situation. Drunk Tsuna meant sad Tsuna meant Byakuarn teasing Tsuna meant that Yuni would be able to do nothing but sit uselessly.

Byakuran turned to face her as he perched on the barstool next to her, the expression on his face softening. "You know," he sang vaguely, "things~! Want a marshmallow?" He pulled a packet of marshmallows out of nowhere and proffered them to her, maintaining a bland smile.

Yuni stared at him doubtfully, but it was obvious that he didn't want to talk about it. She declined, and swung back on her seat and mourned the fact that her legs didn't even reach the bars on the stool. Tsuna continued to maintain his unhealthy relationship with the counter, and Byakuran systematically made his way through the entire packet of marshmallows.

Sometimes Yuni really hated Byakuran's metabolism.

"So~!" Byakuran began, licking his fingers.

Tsuna swivelled his head in Byakuran's direction, still face down on the table and Yuni didn't bother scolding him for being so rude.

Byakuran continued, levelling Yuni with a look too serious to be genuine and said, "Yuni-chan. It's been worrying me; that a young, adorable-looking girl can get through the dangerous world of the mafia safely."

Too drunk to really think about his actions, Tsuna pulled himself up to join the conversation, grabbing Yuni's arm. "Yuni's not being bothered by strange people, is she? Just remember," he said gravely, squinting to keep eye-contact, "If a person offers you candy, _say no and get me_. Or Byakuran. But me, mostly."

Byakuran nodded overly sincerely. "We can't let anything happen to our little princess."

"I'm a boss too! And I'm almost 18!" Yuni protested, pouting ferociously.

Byakuran smirked. "Well, you do have your own over-protective puppy to protect your honour."

"Gamma's not a puppy," Yuni said automatically.

"Loyal, obedient and eager to impress," Byakuran sang, smirking.

"That sounds more like young Hayato." Tsuna interrupted. He seemed inclined to start sobbing. "I remember a time where he wouldn't dare speak up. Where has young, innocent Hayato gone too? I don't want to do the paperwork! Bosses shouldn't need to do _paperwork_!"

Yuni clucked her tongue and resumed patting Tsuna's head. Gamma never let her touch the paperwork.

Byakuran proceeded to taunt Tsuna in his agony. "It's your fault for trying to go legit, Tsunayoshi-kun."

Tsuna resumed his previous position, sinking his head onto the counter (forgetting to be gentle again).

They hadn't been like this from the beginning. It had started with Tsuna's first kill (Byakuran didn't count because he was still up and about and being his infuriating self, which Tsuna continually reminded Yuni was her fault).

xxx

As the orange gold flame bled out of Tsuna, so did his confidence and conviction. When he was in hyper mode, all of his doubts were erased. He acted with complete, blind faith that what he was doing was right and it _scared_ him when he came out of it. Because when he was Hyper Tsuna, most things (emotions, sentiment) were thrown away – he was completely ruthless, having lost all sense of society, the only thing burning through him his dying will.

The man was a traitor. Tsuna knew this. He told himself this, pounded it into his mind as the Ninth informed him of it and that he would have to take responsibility. The old man had contacted Tsuna directly, as the traitor (who had destroyed lives of hundreds, leaking information that could have ended disastrously for the Vongola) had escaped to Japan, Tsuna's 'territory'.

And Tsuna had said brazenly that he 'would take care of it'. The words had left a bitter taste in his mouth.

He hadn't let his Guardians know about it, didn't want to burden them with the information (even though he knew that Gokudera had _grown up _in the cosa nostra and Reborn didn't call Yamamotot a 'natural born killer' for no reason, and Hibari, _Mukuro_, Tsuna didn't even want to think about them). But no matter what he told himself, that he wanted to protect them, what he truly wanted, what he truly feared was for them to see him in the aftermath of the kill.

He didn't want to let his Famiglia, his _family_ to see him like this. It was shameful, and no matter what they said.

Reborn had forced him to read Macbeth once. A little water will cleanse us of this deed. Tsuna snorted. Right, sure. It would probably have helped if Tsuna had literal blood on his hands. But no, Hyper Tsuna didn't care for messy work and had taken to burning the traitor (_alive_, not-hyper Tsuna thought sickly) to ash. He hadn't needed to get rid of the body, the wind carrying the ash away, but he could've if he'd had to (Tsuna didn't want to think about how he had the knowledge to do so – probably had something to do with Reborn, _'A good mafia don must know how to get rid of bodies.'_).

Tsuna knew that Reborn knew (because Reborn always knew) what he was doing, but Tsuna couldn't go to him. Didn't _want_ to go to him.

He didn't know how, but he had ended up in front of the Giglio Nero Famiglia's mansion. The gates had been open and Tsuna wandered in.

Yuni and Byakuran had been waiting at the door (later, Tsuna would remember to ask why and Yuni would reply "Remember, I can see the future, Tsuna-kun," with a sad little smile, but that was later and this was now and Tsuna had finally found people he could go to).

Yuni would hold him as he sat hollow, vacant, tear ducts dry and Byakuran would remain a constant presence, making inopportune offers of marshmallows. Tsuna had found a strange comfort in it, and the pair had become a trio (as it should be, the tri-ni-sette united).

xxx

Yuni, like her mother and her mother before her, treated their foreknowledge as both a curse and a blessing. Because, while Yuni could prepare and have the knowledge, often there was nothing that she could actively do to prevent major things from happening (but she tried to never think too hard about it, because it brought with it unwelcome memories of a past-future that will never come to pass).

But when those memories finally caught up with her, she kept away from her beloved family (the difference between family and Famiglia was startling). Yuni could never let Gamma see her like this, unraveled, broken, because she was his sky, _their_ sky, and it was her responsibility to be the one caring for them. Sometimes she hated that word, the syllables resounding harshly in her mind, taunting her, mocking her.

Somehow, Byakuran and Tsuna always managed to find her.

xxx

Approximately ten years in the future, Byakuran, Yuni and Tsuna drunk themselves into a drunken stupor.

Tsuna had sneaked out of the Vongola's celebratory party (_because they were all alive, _alive_, and sometimes Tsuna found it hard to believe)_ and met them at the Millefiore's Mansion. The Millefiore knew not to interrupt or ask questions. Tsuna sometimes wondered how they could function as a Famiglia, but Byakuran's brand of insanity was not something that could ever be understood.

Yuni would not be quite old enough to drink for a while, but no one could begrudge her, because who wanted to remember killing herself?

xxx

_(Tsuna hated Byakuran except for when he didn't.)_

Tsuna hated Byakuran's breakdowns. They were rare and infrequent but Tsuna hated them.

He hated the irrevocable sympathy that he felt for the man, no matter what heinous deeds Byakuran had committed (and would never come to commit), he hated it, but that never stopped him from participating in the obligatory group cuddle (especially when Yuni stared pitifully at Tsuna with her large, doe-like eyes and was just plain playing dirty handed).

xxx

Their co-dependency was almost unhealthy. Reborn disapproved. Tsuna knew this. His ex-tutor never said it out loud, but he didn't need to. Tsuna had known Reborn for far too long not to recognize the signs of displeasure.

The rest of his family don't really know about their relationship (and Tsuna wanted to keep it that way, it wasn't that it was something that he was ashamed of, it was just something that he believed to be between the three of them, who understood what each other needed even when that specific person didn't. It was something private, _special_ and it was going to stay like that, between the three skies), which wasn't even that, just a co-dependency, a mutual understanding that they could not survive, could notmanage without each other.

xxx

Tsuna hated and loved the mafia. He had told the truth, that day more than ten years ago, that he would destroy the mafia if he couldn't change it (sometimes he wished he could just skip to the destroying part of the deal – Byakuran had been right, the never-ending paperwork from going legit was something that he had brought upon himself).

Tsuna had been asked once, that if he regretted it. He had never been given much choice in the matter to begin with, but he didn't say.

If the sky was supposed to keep all the guardians grounded, who was going to look after the sky? Reborn? But Reborn was a whole other bunch of problems – what kind of person threw a fourteen year old into the dark, bloody world of the mafia? But then, the same could be said for the Ninth, Iemitsu, _his father _and most of the mafia who seemed to see no problem in treating little kids like adults. Maybe it was the air, because nothing escaped unscathed from the mafia.

Tsuna let out a bitter snort, the fog of alcohol heavy, but the burden of hyper intuition meant that he was never _truly _drunk. He wondered idly if that was why Xanxus surrounded himself with copious amounts of alcohol all the time.

If Tsuna was supposed to keep his Famiglia (_family_, Yuni reminds when he forgets) grounded, who was going to look after him?

Tsuna watched through half-lidded eyes, a content smile on his lips, as Yuni absently patted his head and Byakuran magicked up another bag of marshmallows he was already half way through.

No matter how annoying Byakuran could be, no matter how much unhealthy emotion Yuni kept up inside of her, despite their imperfections, and no matter their differences, they were what kept each other human.

**A/N: **Umm, I tried my best? As much I love these characters, I had no idea how to write them. Sorry for any grammatical/spelling errors. I was in a bit of a rush and didn't have time to check over it.

Thank you for reading, and I welcome any feedback. :3


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